Until There Was You
by Blood Riot Yagami
Summary: Yabuki Shingo and Kasugano Sakura found themselves drawn to one another. Can love bloom in a world of fighting? Re-write of a several year old story that really needed some new life. Chapter 3 is now up!
1. His Love For Her

_**Salutations, curious reader. This is a redo of a story that I began and never actually completed a few years ago. It was sitting here rotting in my account and kind of pissed me off with it's arbitrary shittiness. Therefore, I decided to rewrite it. It was a cute little story that I thought of when it struck me how similar KOF's Yabuki Shingo is to SF's Kasugano Sakura. I love Shingo's character (not as much as Yagami Iori, but hey) and I always thought Sakura was interesting. So anyway, I hope you enjoy this little crossover. This is just an intro, I promise it'll get interesting.**_

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_**Y**_abuki Shingo sighed as he sat on a park bench and waited for her. She was late, but then again, it wasn't like he'd expected her to be on time. Besides, even if he intended to be angry with her, he always found he couldn't be.

He thumbed absentmindedly through his black notebook, but didn't really pay attention to the notes contained therein. He remembered the day he'd met her. There was a fighting tournament going on at the time that he was participating in as a single entry. It wasn't all the usual cast of characters that participated in the _King Of Fighters_ tournament. There were new people there too.

Shingo had wanted to show off his new skills that his master, Kusanagi Saiyasu, had taught him. His roster had indicated that he was to fight a woman by the name of "Kasugano Sakura." He hadn't thought much of it until he actually met her.

At sixteen, she was a year younger than Shingo himself. She'd fought using a self-taught style modeled after her hero, a man named Ryu. She tried to emulate him, though she still fought in a school uniform. It was sort of like looking into a frightening mirror.

Still, he'd found himself strangely attracted to her at the same time. Ultimately, as per usual it seemed, the tournament had ended without a real winner as there was some ulterior motive behind why the sponsor had held the tournament in the first place.

Shingo had felt an odd fear at the thought of never seeing her again, and had blurted out this feeling to her. She'd laughed at him, but then told him they would hang out together sometime.

They had quite a few times, but they weren't really dating. Shingo hoped in the back of his mind that he could change that.

"Shingo-kun!" a female voice yelling his name made his head snap up. He grinned at her as she ran up to him. "Sorry I'm a little late…"

Shingo waved his hand dismissively. "Don't even worry about it, Sakura-chan. I've ceased thinking that you'll ever be on time." Sakura put her hand on her hip. "Am I really late that often?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

Shingo stood up and put his hands on her shoulders. "It's not a big deal. Besides, you look really good today," he replied with a smile. She beamed up at him, "Really?"

Sakura was clad in a pair of flared jeans and a tight pale blue top. Sandals that were the same pale blue color and tasteful jewelry completed her summery ensemble.

"You don't look half bad yourself there," she laughed, giving Shingo a playful shove. Shingo had decided to wear a pair of jeans with a black T-Shirt with a short-sleeved white button up shirt overtop.

"So, uh, you said you had a place planned to go hang out?" Shingo asked as he shoved his hands and the notebook into his pockets. Sakura nodded. "We're going to the arcade, Shingo-kun!" she declared, as she grabbed his hand and dragged him along behind her out of the park.

Yeah, maybe the arcade was a little childish, but Shingo found he didn't care as long as he was with Sakura. He just held her hand tighter and let her lead the way.

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_**So there is the introduction chapter. Hope you liked it. There will be more chapters and more characters from both games making an appearance. Reviews are cool, and usually help inspire me to write. Until next time, this has been B.R.Y.**_


	2. Her Love For Him

**Welcome to Chapter 2 of _"Until There Was You."_ Still no reviews on this one. Hope someone's actually reading it. Anyway, enjoy.

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_**K**__asugano _Sakura, follower of Ryu and formidable fighter in her own right, found herself facing an extremely difficult task: Asking Shingo to be her boyfriend.

"Uh, Sakura-chan, we're here," Shingo piped up, and Sakura realized they were indeed at the local Neo Geo arcade. "Right, I knew that," Sakura laughed weakly, releasing Shingo's hand, "Well, let's go in."

Shingo nodded and smiled at her. Sakura knew she couldn't hide her blush. Why, oh why, did he have such an effect on her? While she was spacing out, she didn't realize that he paid for them both to go in.

"Here," he said, handing her a pass card that allowed her to play all the games for free all day. "Shingo-kun! You shouldn't have paid for me," Sakura scolded, but secretly she was touched that he'd done that for her.

"Don't worry about it," Shingo grinned. He was always telling her not to worry about things, but that usually made her fret about things all that much more. "There was a game here I wanted to show you, Shingo-kun," Sakura told him, pointed at a certain prominent game cabinet.

Shingo's eyes widened when he read the title. "It's a game version of the _King Of Fighters_ tournament?" he asked in disbelief, "Am I in it?" Sakura swiped her card in the machine and it prompted her to select her character.

She placed the cursor over on of the character pictures. Shingo made a strangled sound at the sight of a little sprite dressed in a blue school uniform and a white headband that bore the name _Yabuki Shingo_.

"It's like anime me," Shingo managed after a few moments and Sakura laughed. "I think you look cute. Now pick a character, and you can't pick yourself, because I'm already playing you," she smiled.

Shingo swiped his card and scrolled through the characters, who were probably all people he knew fairly well. Finally he decided on one. A male character named _Kusanagi Kyo_. Sakura sort of knew he'd pick the man Shingo modeled himself after.

_**S**__everal _rounds later it was 10 to 0, Sakura to Shingo. He looked exasperated. "You've obviously played this game way too many times," he sighed. "Probably," she agreed, "Do you want to play another game?"

He looked relieved as he led her away from the game. "How about we get something to eat? There's a café in here," he suggested. "Sounds good. I was getting a little hungry anyway," Sakura replied happily.

She'd really looked forward to this day so much. Since they went to different schools in different prefectures, she didn't get to see Shingo as often as she would have liked.

They sat down at the café and Shingo ordered them both sodas. "You know, you'd think they'd have to get our permission to legally make a game about us," Shingo commented, as he and Sakura scoured the menu.

"I think you give them that right when you sign the participation papers," Sakura replied, "Besides, Lord knows it's not like these tournaments are exactly always legit sponsored." Shingo laughed, "Too true."

The waitress returned with their sodas, and asked if they were ready to order. "Can I get a chicken sandwich and fries?" Sakura asked and the waitress nodded and jotted down the order. "And you?" she prompted Shingo. "I'll have two cheeseburgers and fries," he replied and they handed in their menus.

"So, Shingo-kun," Sakura began, finally gathering up the courage to ask him to be her boyfriend, "I was wondering…"

"KASUGANO SAKURA!" a high pitched feminine voice split through the air, "I HAVE FINALLY FOUND YOU!"

Sakura sighed as turned to face her rival. She could tell Kanzuki Karin's voice from a mile away. "What the fu--," Shingo began, before Sakura stood up quickly. "Long time no see, Karin-chan," she stated, cutting him off.

"Oh, hey, Karin-san. Kinda forgot what you looked like," Shingo said, leaning back and taking a long drink of soda. "Shingo-san," Karin acknowledged him quickly, then turned back to Sakura, "We've got a score to settle; I don't care if you're on a date."

"Right now?" Sakura asked, frustrated. "Yes now! I didn't go looking for you everywhere just to have you back out!" Karin retorted tartly. Sakura looked desperately at Shingo. He waved her on. "Go do what you gotta do. I'll tell them to hold the food," he responded quickly to her unasked question.

"Great," Karin exclaimed, leading the way to the street. Sakura followed her glumly…just as she was about to ask Shingo out too…

Once out on the street, she faced her rival. "I hope you know that you came a seriously inopportune moment, Karin-chan," Sakura sighed, irritated. Karin smirked. "He is a cute date, Sakura-chan," she replied maliciously.

"Oh, that is it! Let's finish this quick," Sakura spat. "Bring it on," Karin agreed with anticipation. Both girls ignored the crowd they were drawing.

Round One. Ready? Go.

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**There you go. The next chapter will mostly be fighting, so anyway this has been B.R.Y. over and out!**


	3. Bloody Vermilion

**I haven't updated this story in awhile, but I felt like it, so I did. I'm not quite sure where I was going before, so I just took it in the direction that felt appropriate. There's been a slight change in my writing style since I last updated, but I think the story is still fairly coherent. Enjoy!

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_**S**_hingo tried to cover up the yawn that escaped as he watched his not-quite-girlfriend fight her rival. He'd ended up just having the waitress pack the food up in a travel container. If they were lucky, it'd still be at least lukewarm by the time Sakura finished fighting.

The teenager next to him jabbed him in the ribs and pointed to Sakura. "Hey, weren't you the guy with that girl?" he asked with a grin.

Shingo nodded. It suddenly struck him just how many people were really gathering around to watch two teenage girls go at it. His face deadpanned. Oh, yeah, what guy _didn't_ wanna watch two girls go at it?

"You her boyfriend then?" the kid next to him persisted.

"Something like that," he replied quickly, "And don't bother with the other girl. You don't have a shot in hell with her…she's Kanzuki's daughter."

The kid grimaced and muttered some swear word under his breath. On the bright side, he finally seemed to be inclined to leave Shingo alone.

"Why don't you just give up? You know you'll never win!" Karin yelled, bringing Shingo's attention back to the fight. Karin had swung a vicious high kick at Sakura's head, but the brunette had merely ducked under it then swept the blonde's legs out from under her.

Karin hit the ground with a rather unladylike grunt before springing back to her feet and assaulting Sakura with a barrage of punches. Sakura wasn't quite as lucky avoiding these and Shingo winced as he watched blood practically explode out of her nose.

He really probably should jump in and help her, but the tongue-lashing he'd receive for it just didn't quite seem worth it. Besides, Sakura wouldn't forgive him for doing such a thing and would probably start beating the crap out of _him_ instead.

Moreover, if he _did_ step in, what would he do? Hit Karin in front of tons of people? Sure, that'd work if he wanted to look like a guy who beats women. Nope, staying put seemed like his best option.

"You don't look so hot now, Sakura!" Karin spat, grinning at her current handiwork. Both girls were now glistening with perspiration, which made for a not completely undesirable effect.

Sakura steadied herself while wiping the blood off her nose and glared back at the heiress. "If that's all it takes to get you excited, then you're more amateur than I thought!" Sakura retorted. Shingo deemed it best to astutely ignore the sexual connotations in that statement.

Sakura charged in with a shoulder rush that Shingo could proudly take credit for teaching her. Karin's eyes flickered as she countered this with a knee rush that caught the brunette girl under the chin.

Nearly the entire crowd flinched at the sound of Sakura's teeth crashing together. Still, she managed to continue her assault forward and bury the point of her elbow into Karin's abdomen.

Karin gasped for air as Sakura staggered backwards, slightly splay-legged. Shingo looked down at his watch and furrowed his brow. This had been fight had been going on for nearly forty-five minutes, if he counted the fifteen he spent getting the food wrapped up.

Apparently, Sakura was acutely aware of this as well, since she took a stance Shingo knew well…and usually dreaded. She had both feet firmly planted, her shoulders back, but her entire body forward slightly.

Finally, she thrust her hands in front of her, the base of both palms touching. "HADO-!" she began to scream as a blinding light of pure energy gathered in her palms.

Both Shingo and Karin knew that the blonde was pretty much screwed at this point, since she lacked any sort of counter attack to this move. Usually when the two girls squabbled Sakura didn't use the technique. A little flicker of hope in Shingo's mind rationalized it as Sakura wanting to end the fight so that she could hang out with him.

A man could hope, anyway.

Out of nowhere, a burst of brilliant vermilion flame shot between the two girls. That sort of projectile fire could only come from one of two men…and Shingo was fairly sure he knew which one it was.

"Kusanagi-sensei!" Shingo shouted as the inferno cleared to reveal the slightly older brunette man, "What are you doing here?"

The crowd seemed less than pleased with Kyo's arrival, but didn't seem willing to chance getting in an argument with the famous man who could produce fire from his fingertips. They soon dispersed, though they weren't above grumbling about it.

Kyo's eyes darted to both girls, one on either side of him. Karin had fallen forward on her knees and Sakura had landed on her back with her legs spread in a suggestive fashion. She quickly amended this by sitting up, but neither girl made a move to stand. They just stared at Kyo.

Shingo began to walk towards Kyo when a hand caught his shoulder. He turned around to see that it belonged to Kyo's girlfriend, Yuki. She smiled up at him. "Why don't you let Kyo-kun handle this, eh, Shingo-kun?" she suggested holding a finger up to signal him to stop.

Shingo frowned at the short-haired brunette girl. She looked much like Sakura, but was definitely less belligerent. "If you say so, Yuki-chan," he relented, "But the rivalry between the two of them is practically on the level of Kusanagi-sensei and Yagami-san's."

Both he and Yuki shuddered at the thought of the red-haired psychopath that was Yagami Iori, and then turned their attention to Kyo's peacekeeping attempt. It must've been going mildly well, as both girls were at least on their feet now.

"…You got it?" Kyo finished explaining something to both the street-fight participants. They nodded and Sakura walked shamefaced over to Shingo.

"I'm sorry," she said lamely, "I know better than to start a fight like that in public where someone could call the police…and if Karin-san had dodged my Hadōken who knows who it would have hit."

Shingo shrugged. "Don't apologize to me," he replied in identical lameness.

Kyo walked over with his arms crossed. "_Definitely_ don't apologize to him," he agreed, "After all, he didn't do anything to stop it either."

Yuki was decidedly taciturn about Kyo playing the "parent role," so Shingo decided that it was probably in his best interest not to point out that Kyo was technically a third-year high-school student like himself and Yuki…despite the fire-wielder's twenty years of age.

Karin stood nearby with her hand on her hip. Her butler (or someone to that effect) had materialized out of god-knows-where and made some suggestion that she should probably head away from the scene.

Karin's blue eyes locked with Sakura's brown ones. "We'll finish this another day, Kasugano!" she spat as she climbed in her over-the-top limo and drove away.

"Well, that was a bit cliché," Yuki observed. She then turned her attention to Shingo and Sakura. "Are you guys on a date today?" she inquired with a tinge of hopefulness in her voice.

"Sort of, yeah," Shingo replied bluntly. Sakura made some sort of strangled noise while her face began to turn pinkish. Shingo tried to attribute this to the suddenness of Yuki's question rather than Sakura finding Shingo's company revolting.

Yuki brightened at the response. "Great!" she grinned, "Why don't we go on a double date? I'm sure your food is cold by now, anyway."

Kyo looked less than enthused by this suggestion, but said nothing for Yuki's sake.

Sakura smiled at the older girl. "Sounds like fun," she replied, then seemed to realize she excluded Shingo from this decision. "Is it okay with you, Shingo-kun?"

He nodded. It wasn't like he could say "no" at this point. Sakura shot him a smiled as she and Yuki began to walk toward the shopping district. Shingo and Kyo lagged behind them somewhat.

"You owe me for this," Kyo threatened the younger boy before trotting to catch up with his girlfriend.

"Somehow I think I'm already paying for it…" Shingo mumbled as he followed suit, "Actually, I _know_ I am."

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**I still don't have any reviews on this one. I guess it's like my pity and hopefulness that makes me keep working on it. It's like cheering for the Detroit Lions this season, even though my team is the New York Giants (sorry for the football reference for all those who don't follow it). Still, I hope _someone_ is reading and enjoying it. Review if you'd like! Until next time, this has been B.R.Y.!**


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